Getting him Back by Anna Pescardot Page A

expressionless as she turned each page,
which was a good sign. She turned the last page, nodded and then
handed it back to me. ‘That’ll do. Send it to Mr Groves and keep a
copy for me in the file. Thanks.’ She waved her hand at me, which
was her sign for me to leave.
    Now that
I’d finished the report, I had nothing major to do, except think
about Mark. I replayed the scene from that Thursday night, over and over, inside my
head until I thought I would die.

Chapter Two
That Thursday
Night
     
    I always
went to Mark’s flat on Thursdays. He would either cook something or
get us a takeout from the local Chinese. He would usually have
chicken chow mien, while
I preferred the spicier options. I’d let myself in with my key and
was surprised to see an empty flat. Mark was nowhere to be seen and
there was no sign of any food being cooked. Maybe he’s gone out for the
takeout , I thought, but
then I saw it on the table – a note.
    Gone to the
pub. Back soon. Mark
     
    The first
thing I noticed was the lack of emotion. He usually wrote something
like, Dear
Terri and Love
Mark . I felt my stomach
turn over. Feeling nervous I walked over to his fridge and cracked
open a can of lager. I took it to the table and read the note
again. It was quite abrupt; this wasn’t like Mark at all. I sipped
the lager and jumped when I heard his key turning in the door. His
eyes widened when he saw me. It was as though he didn’t expect me
to be there. ‘Terri,’ he said, staggering towards the table. He sat
down. ‘How are you?
    ‘I’m a little
bit confused actually. What’s going on?’
    He took
off his jacket and placed it around the back of his chair, ‘I’ve
something I need to tell you. There’s no easy way to say it so I’ll
just come out with it. I can’t marry you.’ He burped then pulled
out his chair to sit down. I didn’t know what to say so I just
stared at him. His pale blue eyes, which were usually so warm, were
devoid of emotion and his dirty-blond hair was dishevelled where he
kept pushing his hands through it. It was as though somebody else
had replaced him. I was so angry that he felt he had to get drunk
to tell me.
    I felt tears
welling up in my eyes, ‘Why?’
    ‘It’s better I
tell you now, right? I didn’t want to stand you up at the
altar.’
    ‘ But why
did you let it get this far? The wedding’s in two
weeks!’
    ‘ I know.
I guess I just got swept along. We’ve been together nine years so I
thought it was the right thing to do.’
    ‘Don’t you love
me any more?’
    ‘Yeah, course,
but it’s more like brother and sister. I’m bored with us,
Terri.’
    I started
to cry. He tried to get up but stumbled and bashed his leg on the
table. He shouted some obscene words and then stood closer to me,
his fingers moving through my hair. ‘I’m so sorry, love, but it’s
for the best.’
    ‘But I don’t
think so. What’ve I done wrong?’
    He turned
my face towards his and I so wanted to kiss him. ‘You haven’t done
anything. You’re a stunning girl and any man would be glad to have
you. We’ve just been together too long, that’s all. We were just
kids when we got together. I don’t think I’m cut out for
marriage.’
    I loved
him so much I didn’t care whether we got married or not, so I took
hold of his hands. ‘Ok so we don’t get married. We’ll just carry on
as we are.’
    ‘ No.’ He
pulled away and stumbled over to the window, ‘it’s over. It’s all
over.’
    I felt my
stomach churning. Why did he want to end it? Nine years was such a long time and he wanted
to throw it all away just like that. ‘You still haven’t told me
why. You were ok last night. Has something happened? Maybe you’ve
just got wedding jitters. It’s normal…’
    ‘ I
haven’t got the jitters.’ He turned his back to me and stood
completely still for a moment. ‘I’ve met somebody.’
    I felt
like I’d been shot. I wanted to find her and kill her. How dare she
take my Mark away from me.